An Interview With Chance Stewart

As Michigan runs out of available spots in the 2013 class, the focus is quickly shifting to the rising juniors of the class of 2014. One of the top in-state 2014 targets is Sturgis (MI) quarterback Chance Stewart, who camped at Michigan last week in hopes of earning an offer; Stewart appears to be battling Toledo (OH) Central Catholic's Deshone Kizer for the available QB scholarship in the class. I caught up to Stewart this morning to get his thoughts on the camp, the state of his recruitment, and how a Michigan offer would affect his status:

ACE: Out of those teams, who's extended an offer, and do any teams currently stand out for you as potential leaders?

CHANCE: Wisconsin and Western have offered me. I'd probably say Michigan (even though I haven't gotten that offer yet) and Wisconsin are on top.

ACE: I know you camped at Michigan last week. What was that experience like for you and how do you think you performed?

CHANCE: [It was a] great experience—always fun working with Coach Borges. I thought I threw the ball very well in the afternoon session.

ACE: What have the coaches told you about what you need to do to earn a Michigan offer?

CHANCE: Coach Borges just told me I needed to have an impressive camp and when I left he said we'd be in contact.

ACE: I know it's still early, but what factors are you looking for when evaluating a potential school?

CHANCE: Right now pretty much I'm just looking at the basics—coaching staff, facilities, campus. I haven't really made a list of things I really like and don't.

ACE: Do you have an idea of when you'd like to make a decision?

CHANCE: Sometime in my junior year—not sure when though exactly.

ACE: Do you have any camps or visits planned for the rest of the summer? Any plans to visit Michigan again soon?

CHANCE: Three more camps: Western and Eastern Michigan, and Penn State. And as for Michigan visits, I plan on going to a game this fall.

ACE: How would a Michigan offer affect your recruitment? What would it mean to you and would it potentially affect your timetable?

CHANCE: If Michigan were to offer I feel like Wisconsin and Michigan still would be on the top. As far as changing my timetable, yes that could be a possibility.

ACE: What do you think is your biggest strength as a quarterback and what are you looking to improve during the summer and your junior year?

CHANCE: Accuracy is the main thing I want to improve on, and my biggest strength is leadership! Quarterback is a position where when everything is going wrong in a game, you have to be there to let your teammates know you got their back and we can do this! So I feel like that's my biggest strength.

I know my opinion means jack squat but of qb's in the 2014 class. ( Kizer, stewart, kinkade, and that key fella from Oklahoma) I really like what chance brings to the table the most. He has a big time arm, a huge Frame and will be able to operate very well behind the giant wall that we will call a line in a few years. He's my personal favorite and I hope he gets an offer.

I grew up with Chance's dad, who was a tremendous athlete (and a good person) who also played baseball at EMU. Their family owns a sporting goods store in Sturgis. I believe they used to do quite a lot of business directly with Michigan in terms of jersey's, etc.. Bleed blue.

I have absolutely no inside info as to what the Stewart family is thinking today, but based on limited knowledge, all Michigan has to do is ask and he goes Blue.

While mobility may be lacking to other QB's, he does play Basketball pretty well, so his not a stiff.

Reminds me of Navarre with his throwing motion. He's a soph., so take my critique with that in mind, but I wasn't as impressed with his arm strength as I had hoped. Now, I venture to say his O-line has a bit to do with not seeing a lot of arm strength in the game film (if he got pressure that often in his highlights, how many times did he get sacked? particularly for a guy with somewhat limited mobility), but I didn't see really any deep throws or any throws on a line. It seemed like the ball took a while to get to its target each time. It seems like his game is good, but doesn't really stand out, which leads me to believe he won't be an early offer.

No doubt in my mind that he is a D1 recruit (obviously), and I think it's fair to say he'll get the Indiana and Purdue's of the world to offer, but I'm not sure if the higher (Michigan, MSU, OSU, ND) will come. I'm sure the Michigan coaches got a really good look in a camp setting, so we'll see if they offer or not (probably looked better in camp, as evidence by getting a Wisc offer). I get the feeling though that Michigan is going to poke around to gauge the interest level of more skilled QBs and maybe come back around sometime in the fall if they come back not feeling confident about some other recruits. He doesn't seem like a bad option, especially with Morris the year ahead of him, but I don't think he'll be option number 1.